"Just one thing after another" - Unknown

Elsa Figueira

Elsa Figueira denounces the abusive man she loves and goes on a quest against violence. Her motto: “What eyes can see, we can change”.

Pekagboom (Writer): With the film we want to inspire women to empower themselves. Violence against the women we love exists practically everywhere and this is not right. We're young people who want things to change. Women shouldn't fall into submission, hide the marks of violence, accept the abuse, as many women unfortunately do. We need to inspire women to take charge of the situation like Elsa Figueira does and show men they no longer have the same abusive power they've held for centuries. This is a cause, and all of us, men and women included, need to act now.

A phrase from the Elsa Figueira soundtrack says “I suffer silently, do everything to please you, and all you do is respond with violence”. But this is not the end of the story...

Katya Aragão (Executive Producer): We're creating a strong female character to inspire women from all over the world to empower themselves. She's kind of our superhero, but the fun thing is she's anyone of us.

Kris Haamer (Director): I met a musician (Pekagboom), who'd written a story about how his mother got beaten up by her husband. From that story was born Elsa Figueira, a fictional character. And over these many months working on her story, Elsa has taught me a lot about violence. It's incredible that in so many relationships one partner is submitted to fear and physical danger (according to the UN 1/3 of women suffer from violence during their lifetime) and usually this goes completely unnoticed by anyone else. With this film we wan to take the #ElsaFigueira character to the four corners of the planet, in various languages. Elsa has a message that I care about. And as she likes to say, "what eyes see, we can change".

Catita Dias (Painter): I'm affected by the violence I witness every day against the people we love. My paintings draw attention to this issue, so we would think think about this horrible reality.

Enerlid Franca e Lagos (Co-Producer): "Elsa Figueira" is a tribute to November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and like with TEDxSãoTomé the goal is to change minds, and through minds, change realities.

The film launches on the Apple App Store and is accompanied by a short documentary where the Catita Dias, the painter, and writer/musician Pekagboom, and director Kris Haamer, discuss domestic violence, and how we can use art to fight against this crime.

The film is presented in Portuguese with subtitles for a worldwide audience in English, Mandarin, Estonian, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, German, Spanish, French and Italian.

Love does not justify abuse and violence. What eyes can see, we can change. Let's do this. #16days #HeForShe #SheForHe #ElsaFigueira

In late 2013 I met a musician who'd written the story of his mother being abused and beaten up by his father. That day Elsa Figueira was born — a fictional character suffering from abuse but managing to stand up and fight back. Over the following many months Elsa has taught me a lot about violence. It's amazing in how many relationships one of the parties is scared and in physical danger (UN data, 1/3 of women will suffer violence in her lifetime), and it usually goes completely unnoticed by others. Today we're launching a campaign to bring the character of #ElsaFigueira in 15-minute short film to all corners of the globe, in several languages. Elsa has a message that matters. And as the author of the story says: "what eyes can see, we can change".

Hey everyone, thank you so much for supporting Elsa Figueira! You've come from all over the world to back our initiative: Taiwan, Brazil, United States, Singapore, Switzerland, Denmark, Angola, Belgium, Estonia, Netherlands, Finland, Ireland, Portugal, Canada, and São Tomé e Príncipe! This only goes to show that this is a film that is relevant all over the planet. We sincerely hope we can make it.

THANK YOU

In the meanwhile we've been quite busy behind the scenes and here are some ways to learn more about the film as well as the larger movement this project is part of.

Kris Haamer: "Our goal is to create a powerful character, someone who would stay with people, so the audience doesn't think about this issue only for the 15 minutes of the film, but the story stays with them for a longer period."